Oral Defense
The public oral defense of a thesis is intended to be an examination of
a completed body of work and should be scheduled only when the
dissertation is essentially completed. At least one copy of the thesis
must be available in the departmental office not less than two calendar
weeks prior to the date of the oral defense. The length of the oral
examination and the subject matter on which the candidate is questioned
are left to the judgment of the committee. The defense should be
scheduled by the student after consultation with the thesis advisor,
who agrees that the thesis is completed and ready to be defended. All
members of the thesis committee must be present for the oral defense. A
candidate must be enrolled in the semester in which his or her oral
examination is held. Students who defend during the summer must enroll
in the summer session of classes. For the purpose of the oral defense
only, enrollment in a semester is considered valid through the Friday
of the first week of class of the following semester. Students passing
the oral examination on or before the end of the first week of classes
of any semester do not have to register for that or any subsequent
semester even though they may be continuing to make minor revisions to
the final copy of their thesis.
Time Boundaries
Ph.D. students must defend their theses before the end of the sixteenth
semester of their residency at Rice. Master's students must defend their theses
before the end of the eighth semester of their residency at Rice. Additional information on time boundaries for graduate students at Rice may be found here .
Procedures
1. Schedule the final oral examination in defense of
thesis to take place at a time agreeable to all members of the committee. Be
sure to consult the deadlines listed in the Academic Calendar to ensure that
you meet the defense deadline for commencement. In order to graduate, the final
thesis must be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
before noon on the deadline listed in the Academic Calendar .
2. Arrange for
public notice to appear prior to the oral examination.
For the
doctoral degree, the examination must be publicly announced. Students should
note that announcements should be made at least two weeks before the scheduled
defense. Defense announcements can be submitted to the Office of Graduate and
Postdoctoral Studies by filling out the following form:
http://events.rice.edu/rgs/ . In appropriate circumstances an oral examination
for the Ph.D. may be scheduled during the summer, and the procedure for posting
of notice is the same as during the regular school year.
For the
master's degree, public notice of the oral examination should be posted one
week prior to the defense via http://events.rice.edu/rgs/.
3. The Original
Approval of Candidacy form (initials in the top right corner will be in red)
will be sent to your department as soon as the Office of Graduate and
Postdoctoral Studies receives the defense announcement. The members of your
committee must sign the Candidacy form. If your thesis committee has changed since you achieved candidacy, the candidacy form must be revised prior to your defense. Instructions for changing your committee can be found here .
4. Within a week
after the final oral examination in defense of thesis is passed, mail a copy of
the Approval of Candidacy form, signed (and dated) by the thesis committee, to
the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (MS-13). This signifies a successful
defense of the thesis.
Students
passing the oral examination on or before the end of the first week of classes
of any semester do not have to register for that or any subsequent semester
even though they may be continuing to make minor revisions to the final copy of
their thesis. Following the successful passing of the oral examination in
defense of the thesis, two signed copies of the thesis must be submitted to
Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies no later than six months from the
date of the examination.
5. Prepare the
final copy of the thesis in accordance with instructions contained in the
document entitled "Thesis Format ." Note: The Thesis Format
instructions are good practice guidelines.
Once the final copy of the thesis is prepared, it must be
submitted to the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.
Thesis Submission
Frequently Asked Questions